HSBC - partnering with Earthwatch to educate staff

The partnership aims to educate a third of HSBC's workforce about climate change through online learning and environmental volunteering projects, with a chance for champions to visit Earthwatch research centres

After many years of working closely together, HSBC and NGO, Earthwatch, decided in 2007 to extend their partnership and design the world's largest employee engagement programme focused on the issue of climate change.

The aim over five years is to engage a third of HSBC's a staff – some 100,000 people – in learning about climate change and building the skills to help reduce the bank's carbon footprint, while increasing efficiency and cutting costs.

The programme is using online learning and one-day environmental volunteering projects to inspire staff.

HSBC's climate champions also get the chance to make two-week residential visits to Earthwatch's five research centres in the US, UK, Brazil, India and China. Here they are working alongside scientists to study how human activity is affecting the way temperate and tropical forests are responding to climate change.

The hope is that by giving staff the chance to take part in intensive learning programmes and to work in vital scientific research in the field, they will become effective agents for change both in the workplace and the wider community.

The field trips give the HSBC champions a chance to gather vital scientific data and, by 2012, they will have contributed nearly 100,000 hours of research. They also attend intensive interactive classes on the ecological and socio-economic impacts of climate change – including how it will affect the bank's own bottom line.

On their return to work they are asked to devise a project that helps to develop HSBC's approach to sustainability.

One champion developed an e-advice service for customers, saving more than 10m sheets of paper and $400,000 a year. Another devised a night-time switch off the computer campaign, which has saved 4.5m kWh of electricity since 2008.

To date, 38,000 HSBC staff have taken part in local environmental volunteering and the aim is to get 100,000 taking part in the online classes.